Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, was shot dead at an art gallery in the country’s capital city of Ankara on Dec 19, according to Turkish media. According to the Russian RIA news agency, the ambassador was killed.
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Andrey Karlov was born in 1954 in Moscow and “began his diplomatic career in 1976 and has been the envoy to Turkey since 2013.”
Reuters reports that the motive behind his killing is likely to be the conflict in Syria. Ankara, the capital of Turkey, and the Russian Government in Moscow disagree on the Syrian conflict and are on opposing sides. Turkey is strongly opposed to the Russian-backed Bashar al-Assad, and that has created tension between the two countries.
Despite their different views on the Syrian Conflict, the situation between the two nations has become better since the summer. The killing of Andrey Karlov could damage the recently-warmer relationship, though.
This is backed by the report of the shooter saying “Don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget Syria,” so it seems to be almost certain that the attack on the Russian Ambassador was connected to the Syrian Conflict. Moreover, the fatal shooting of Karlov has been called a terrorist attack by the Russian Government.
Right now, not a lot of facts are known about the gunman and the attack, but as time goes on, we are set to learn more information about it. The attack will almost certainly damage the relationship between Turkey and Russia, although Turkey, as a country, has no connection to the gunman.
